Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy
Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy is a Wild Kratts episode about how wet objects can be changed by heating and cooling and how the worm’s unique environment helps them stay moist. Official Synopsis Aviva miniaturizes Chris and Martin for a fascinating underground mission to meet earthworms and “dig up” the answer to the mystery of why worms come above ground when it rains. Episode Summary The episode opens with a donut segment. The Kratt brothers walk around in the rain and find worms. They show that the number of worms under a baseball field would fill 330 buckets. They wonder why worms come out when it rains, before saying, “Imagine if we could go underground with the squirmy wormies and find out.” Then, they ask their “What If?” question and the show transitions into the cartoon segment. As it showers in a City, the Kratt brothers try to avoid stepping on the worms who are out above ground. They wonder why the worms are out, and stare up at the rain. Suddenly a box lands on Martin’s head. Aviva sends a message about what’s inside: her new invention; the miniaturizer! At first they think it requires assembly, but then it begins to assemble itself. Martin tries it out and shrinks to the size of a worm. Chris is excited about he new possibilities for creature adventuring, and is tricked by Martin into thinking that he’s stepping on his older brother. Chris miniaturizes himself next, and they set off to investigate the Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy. They meet a worm which Martin names Pinky and investigate its shape and slime. The sky clears and the worms head underground. Martin decides to ride Pinky, and Chris joins, having a hard time holding on to the slimy surface. The tunnels are full of water droplets seeping down, leading the crew to wonder if, as stated in Kratts’ Creatures “Weird Creatures,” worms come up to avoid drowning. Chris slides down the slippery tunnel surface and is launched into a pond, where the brothers learn from some Wild Kratts Kids that worms don’t drown, and can survive for a long time by breathing dissolved oxygen. Martin has to rescue an unwitting Chris from a Large-Mouth Bass by creating minnow sculptures. Pinky begins to dig a new tunnel, and the brothers are thrown off his/her back from the slime. Aviva figures out how worms move and begins to work on a power-suit. As night falls, the brothers head back up to the surface. Pinky feeds on some detritus, leading Chris to conclude that worms come up at night because they’re safer from drying out. Pinky descends back into the burrow, leaving Chris and Martin stuck aboveground. They encounter several predators, showing why worms rarely leave their burrows. After Chris complains about the difficulty of moving in worm burrows, Aviva invents a worm-mobile for him to ride in. The worms head back up to escape a star-nosed mole, making it back to the surface in the sunlight. Here they encounter even more predators and the desiccating power of the sun, and begin to realize how dangerous it is for worms during the day. The brothers worry for their survival. Back underground, Chris discovers that soil retains its moisture for days, allowing the worms to keep breathing and move more easily. The ground shakes, and everyone thinks there’s a mole. However, it turns out to be an American Robin, which uses a ground-shaking technique to fool worms into coming up to the surface. Pinky is grabbed by the robin, and Martin grabs on to him/her in his panic. They are lifted into the air by the robin and taken northeast. Chris decides to save Martin, although he has some trouble while chased by a Brown Thrasher and a Blue Jay. To Aviva’s astonishment, he fixes her worm-mobile with blades of grass and heads off to rescue Martin. As Martin and Pinky are carry off, Pinky’s slime falls off in the sun. Martin and Pinky are almost fed to the robin chicks, but make a parachute out of a leaf and escape. Chris passes by in the worm-mobile just as Martin and Pinky fall to the ground. Pinky is now extremely dry and is close to dying. The Kratts aren’t large enough to move him/her, so Aviva teleports a slimenator in and Ellie the Wild Kratts Kid carries them to safety. The brothers discover how grueling of a journey crossing a sidewalk is for a worm. The brothers conclude that the reason that worms come out when it rains is because it’s the only time they can without drying out. The brothers cover themselves in slime before de-animating. Chris, Martin, and lots of kids help worms in danger of drying off the sidewalk. They then learn about composting, and how worms can be used to help. List of Species Seen * Earthworm * Large-Mouthed Bass (Animated) * Bullfrog (Animated) * Raccoon (Animated) * Star-Nosed Mole (Animated) * Brown Thrasher (Animated) * American Robin (Animated) * Blue Jay (Animated) Category:Wild Kratts Episode